The present invention relates to a novel and useful control panel for controlling lighting scenes which exhibits a great degree of versatility.
Scene lighting has been employed in certain facilities which require multiple lights of different intensities. For example a theatre stage, a restaurant, a ballroom, a hotel and the like are susceptible to scene lighting techniques. Each light may be referred to as a "zone" or "channel". Prior lighting controls included the use of a control panel having a series of potentiometers and a remote dimmer module which included the actual electronic devices. The load, which may encompass lights, fan, motors and the like, were connected to the dimmer module, but the voltage level or intensity of the load was controlled from the control panel. For example an ATS system manufactured by Prescolite Controls at Carrollton, Tex. fulfilled this function.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,660 describes a control panel which activated four zones of lighting, each zone including a multiplicity of lights.
A panel for controlling multiple zones of lighting which possesses the capability of storing the number of lighting scenes as well as previewing the same without disturbing the lighting level existing in a facility would be a great advance in the lighting field.